Main menu

Sébastien Bourdais won the Dan Wheldon trophy as the best international driver at the Surfers Paradise race.

V8 Supercars: Bourdais claims Wheldon trophy at Surfers Paradise race

October 22, 2011

Share

Facebook

Tweet

Pinterest

Email

With tears streaming down his face following the Gold Coast 600 weekend on Sunday, Sébastien Bourdais clasped the freshly crafted trophy in honor of fallen Izod IndyCar Series star Dan Wheldon as he added a V8 Supercars win to his imposing list of triumphs.

Moments after Bourdais's partner, Jamie Whincup, took second in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship race, the owner of four Champ Car titles claimed the Wheldon Memorial trophy as the standout international driver of the weekend in Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Bourdais and Whincup won Saturday's 186.4-mile race but were stopped one place short of a clean sweep on Sunday by Ford driver Mark Winterbottom and his Irish co-driver Richard Lyons.

With a heavy heart, Bourdais put a compassionate touch to the once fortresslike and often frosty demeanor that was his trademark during his championship-winning years at Newman/Haas Racing.

“Obviously these are the toughest trophies to receive," Bourdais began as his eyes filled with tears. “You can't help but put yourself in the same situation. I have two kids pretty much the same age as [Wheldon's], and it makes it that much harder.”

Winterbottom and Lyons celebrated on Sunday after winning the second of two 102-lap races, after finishing third to Bourdais and Whincup on Saturday.

International guest drivers were once again drafted in as co-drivers with the Australian V8 Supercars regulars. The field is unique to the Surfers Paradise event on a street course built originally for CART/Champ Car racing, which first raced in Surfers Paradise in 1991.

American open-wheelers last raced at there in 2008, when Wheldon finished 11th behind Ryan Briscoe--who had a horrible weekend this year as Garth Tander's sidekick in the Holden Racing Team Commodore.

Lyons runs in the Super GT and lives in Singapore with his fiancée, Florida native Gina Greco, who cheered-on her beau from trackside.

As Bourdais did on Saturday, Lyons proved to be the perfect foil for Winterbottom, putting in some neat laps during his opening stint. As has become customary practice, the international drivers start the races and have to complete a minimum of 34 of the 102 laps before handing it over to the Aussie regulars who race to the checkered.

Lyons responded to an SOS by Ford Performance Racing team boss and former longtime Jordan Formula One team member Tim Edwards, after IndyCar's Will Power withdrew from the event following his heavy crash in the catastrophe that killed Wheldon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Northern Irishman was in Japan when Edwards called his cell phone but wasted no time responding in the affirmative to the invitation to drive.

Lyons has past experience in V8 Supercars, running at Bathurst and Phillip Island in the Ford Falcon with Jonathan Webb, and he said he was thrilled by his maiden win in the distinctly rear-drive, pushrod V8-powered cars.

Bourdais was hired last year by Triple Eight team boss Roland Dane after doing a solid job for Dick Johnson's Ford team. And his cameo has proved invaluable not just in instant race results, according to Whincup--who reclaimed the lead in the championship over teammate Craig Lowndes.

“Seb has really helped us out with things in the car we've had for years that we've got kinda used to, but he said its no good, so he's helped with our development,” Whincup said.

Lowndes was again on the wrong end of Team Vodafone's insistence to queue its two cars in pit lane when it seemed clear that the safety car would be out for multiple laps during Sunday's race. He also received a drive-through penalty for curb hopping.

Lowndes and his partner, World Touring Car star Andy Priaulx, were classified an inglorious 20th after failing to finish on Saturday with alleged alternator problems.

Cutting curbs on the chicanes had been a source of concern over the weekend. Darren Turner, the Le Mans 24-hour class winner--and Wheldon's replacement alongside Courtney--discovered why.

Turner did a superb job in what was the hot car all weekend, and he was unfortunate to be nabbed for jumping curbs, especially when race officials halfway through the race decided to abandon enforcement of the curb hopping when race control's electronic sensors and chicane bollards failed.

Californian Joey Hand, an American Le Mans Series frontrunner, had an ignominious end to what promised to be a resourceful weekend. The ALMS and Grand-Am BMW driver did a great job of helping James Moffat's Dick Johnson Falcon to fourth on Saturday. But the Falcon was crippled with brake-rotor failure on Sunday and was forced to retire after 77 laps.

Fellow Californian Boris Said, returning to Aussie V8s after a fling in 2008 at Phillip Island and Bathurst, held his own in the top 10 before handing the Holden Commodore over to Steve Owen to claim seventh--one step ahead of Courtney and Turner's Holden factory team effort, which could easily have done much better.

American Patrick Long, returning for a second shot at V8 Supercars on the streets of Surfers Paradise, crashed after contact with another car, and he and Fabian Coulthard's Commodore finished 15th after their strong fifth on Saturday.

Whincup now leads the V8 Supercars Championship by 143 points over teammate Lowndes, a 243-point swing since the previous round at Bathurst.

Most memorable, though, is how Wheldon was honored strongly all weekend on the Gold Coast.